If opinion polls are to be believed, Austrians will turn their backs on the two mainstream parties that have dominated the country since the Second World War.

The president is a largely ceremonial figurehead, and the election is unlikely to have a direct effect on government policy.

But with anti-immigrant parties on the rise through Europe and the country already closing its borders to the refugees who poured through on their way to Germany last year, the vote could send shock-waves across the continent.